Two things Uber must fight ( if they can win, they’ll be YUGE ):
1) Taxi drivers and Taxi medallion owners. In big cities, the Taxi medallion value has DROPPED by 30 percent since Uber came into the picture.
There are anti-Uber street protests in Europe ( France especially )
2) City Government. Will they allow Uber to expand?
Even now, many are contemplating taxing Uber drivers for using city roads (some call it the “traffic tax” ).
Other than that, it’s a wonderful way for car owners to make money.
I know of a part-time college student who is paying is tuition bills as an Uber driver.
I also know someone who is a bored retiree who decided to be an Uber driver ( he sets his own hours ). This adds another $600 a week to his retirement income.
This business model is like eBay, a win-win situation for customers and ordinary car folks.
That’s a lot of money. They must be working enormous hours to bring that in.
I used Uber for the first time last month to get around in Miami, where I hate to drive myself.
ALL drivers complained about the low pay. That is, what Uber pays them for a trip. All the costs are on them, the driver. They are already talking about unionizing in some form to demand higher payments.
One specific driver who had recently lost his steady job told me that to even approach a living income for Miami, he had to Uber it for 12 hours a day for at least six days to make $400 - $500 in a week.
Most people who use Uber in my circle of friends and family in that city think that Uber will be keeping prices low until they run cabbies out of business, and then they will jack them up to whatever the market can bear. So, what’s the point? Uber represents an advantage in terms of cost right now but next year they will be as pricey as any other form of hired transportation.
Of course, I also predicted that facebook would never make any money and look what is happening there.